|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
JOHN DEERE CLASSICJuly 6, 2010Zach JohnsonSILVIS, ILLINOIS DOUG MILNE: Zach, thanks for joining us for a few minutes prior to the start of the 2010 John Deere Classic. Winner earlier this year at the Crown Plaza Invitational, and finished tied second here last year. Obviously this place is near and dear to your heart. Just some comments on being back and how you're feeling as you're heading into the week. ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah, as I always say, it's always great to be back. It's like going to a nice restaurant. You just never get a bad bite. That's kind of the way I feel about this place. I've never had a bad experience. I haven't played good in some respects, but the golf -- even though that's why I'm here, it's also kind of secondary at times because of what this tournament does and how it goes about doing it. It's nice knowing that I can play well here, for once. But you know, I just like being around friendly faces. I like, you know, Clair obviously and John Deere and what they do for us, and certainly for all of the charities in the local area, and heck, the Midwest in general is pretty -- you know, it makes it that much more worthy to be here. DOUG MILNE: Okay. With that we'll go ahead and open it for questions. Q. Zach, last year you took a week off before playing here. You finished second, so obviously that's not a concern? Would you rather be fresh like that? ZACH JOHNSON: I mean it's not a concern. You know, we're trying to have a formula in that regard with my coaches, you know, do you play the week before a major, how many weeks do you take off, how many weeks -- I mean I've done everything now. I've ended a four-week stretch with a major. I've taken a week off before a major. I've taken six weeks off before I play a tournament and won. You know, there's really no perfect formula. I think what I am starting to learn is for me, that -- I've always said it, my time off is just as crucial or just as strategic in my planning as my time on. So you know, I feel more fresh, obviously, with weeks off. I've taken two weeks off after that four-week stretch, and I'm much better certainly mentally but even physically now than I was probably the third and fourth week of that stretch. So you know, time off, even though it's unfortunate because you gotta take tournaments off and the tournaments are all good, is a really good thing. Q. Is there anything from last year that you can try and keep in your memory bank this year? A low score is needed at this tournament. ZACH JOHNSON: Right. Well, yeah, you know, this is one of those courses where, much like any course, but this one in particular, where if it's firm and fast, it becomes much more narrow, and as a result much more difficult. And it doesn't look like we're going to get that -- you know, I think it's supposed to dry out a little bit Thursday through Saturday. But you know, we're going to have some moist conditions early on in the week, and if that's the case, the course is fairly -- you gotta make a lot of birdies and make a lot of putts. But last year, yeah, I think what I take from it, not just the fact that I can play well on this golf course, not showing scores here in previous years as to, you know, some birdies and some good scores, but what I can take from it is just the fact that I really wasn't in strong contention going into the weekend, or the last -- actually it was one day, the last two rounds. But you know, that doesn't really matter. As long as I play my own game and execute accordingly, I can certainly move up the board. Q. You're in the stretch now with the Ryder Cup announcement drawing close. ZACH JOHNSON: Right. I mean I'm not dwelling on it, but sure, you know, you're not human if you're not thinking about that, especially if you have the potential to play in it. You know, it would be great to be on the team. That's the bottom line. Plus, having Corey as a captain would make it even that much more special, for me, just because we're friends. And then knowing, well, one of his associate captains really well or assistant captains in Davis, that would be pretty special. Those two guys I just mentioned could actually be on that team. So yeah, any time you represent your country, it is awesome. I mean that's -- I get revved up for the World Cup. I mean I just love team sports when you have that flag on your shirt. Doesn't matter what sport it is, I think it's pretty awesome. Q. Zach, this is the closest thing you have to a hometown tournament. Do you feel any extra pressure out there when you're playing in front of people you know and in front of a bigger gallery? ZACH JOHNSON: I used to, but not anymore. One, I've done it a lot, I've played here a lot. And fortunately it really does not affect me because I've hit some really, really good shots and I've hit some really, really bad shots in front of them, and it doesn't matter. So I've gotten over that. But second, don't take this the right way, I kind of feel like I play in front of a home crowd nearly every week. That may sound weird and it may be farfetched, but there is Iowa people everywhere. Just ask my caddie. Next week, across the pond, I guarantee it. I'll bet the farm. I don't have one, but I'll bet it. Q. Last year to go up, you were 36, you're down on the leaderboard, was that a different feeling? Did you feel like (indiscernible)? ZACH JOHNSON: Right. I don't really remember. I don't remember how I was feeling as far as -- I mean I felt good about my game, I'm pretty certain, and I don't remember how the layout was as far as when we played, Thursday through Saturday or what day was rained out, but I'm pretty sure I played pretty well those first two rounds. I just didn't score. So I was, you know -- you can kind of take that and get impatient with it, but I was like, you know what, just be patient with it and it'll come, meaning the putts will drop. And that's kind of how I approached that Sunday, and they started to drop. So that's the only feeling I do kind of remember. I mean it was nice. It was certainly nice, especially, you know, I had a week off right before, and I was going across the pond for the British Open. So I mean that was great. I mean I don't want to finish second, but I'll take it. Q. It was rained out on Friday and that ended up being a break for you because you had gone to South Carolina, if you remember. ZACH JOHNSON: That's right. That's really a good point. I forgot -- well, I didn't forget about that, but you're right. This week and last year this week, Monday through Wednesday, I guess it was Monday through Thursday last year I had been very congested. A lot of stuff going on. I was in my hometown yesterday and a lot of stuff going on today; good stuff, good commitments, but it's tiring. I'll be able to sleep, hopefully. I passed out last night at 10 and alarm woke me up at 8. I was exhausted. So that's rare. Q. How many boards are you on? The McGladrey board, you're on this board. ZACH JOHNSON: There should be a limit. If there is, I'm assuming -- no, well, the John Deere board, clearly. You know, I'm on the board because they asked me to be. And I mean do I help them, you'd have to ask them. You know, I give them input, insight, some, you know, player knowledge from time to time. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH JOHNSON: That's right. Out of my billfold. You know, so I mean I try to help out the tournament as much as possible. I don't really do a whole lot. I'm on a monthly phone call -- maybe bimonthly. I can't recall -- you know, with the board and they pick apart my brain and I can ask them questions, just trying to enhance what they have. I will tell you I feel like this tournament has made the best of this date. You know, it's not the ideal date, but they've made it what it is and they love it. You know, this whole talk about flex schedule and da, da, da, da, da, they don't want that; they want this date because they're getting quality players, the buzz about the playing and they're just doing the right things for the right people. So anyway, this board, PGA TOUR's board. Q. Any other tournament boards? ZACH JOHNSON: Oh, McGladrey's board, yeah. Duh. Right. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH JOHNSON: The insurance foundation board. That's right. They let me on that one. I had to beg. Is that it? Okay. There's four. Q. Does it get overwhelming? ZACH JOHNSON: Yes. It does. But like the PGA TOUR board, it's a three-year commitment. And I was elected on that. So that in itself, that board right there, I've learned so much, and I'm glad I did it. And you know, come three years I'll take -- if they ever ask me to do it again, I'll consider it, but I'm going to take a break, because it is overwhelming considering, you know, what we're going through and the timing. It's just time. You know, time becomes crucial when you get to -- you know, budgeting time on the PGA TOUR is one of the hardest things to monitor and will always be. I mean Davis, this is his fourth time on the board. Granted, he doesn't have a three-year-old and one on the way, but you know, he's done it a lot; and you know, you can do it. I mean it's -- you prioritize it and make it happen. And the TOUR is understanding. I mean I'm not -- we have a board meeting two and a half weeks, which is pretty much my second born's coming, and you know, I'm not going to go to it, but if I can be on a teleconference, I'll do it. If I can't, they'll fill me in. So it's not -- everybody is understanding. John Deere is very understanding, and McGladrey, the McGladrey event is going -- they're great. I mean Scott Reid, Mark Love, obviously Davis. Those guys, they're starting an event from scratch, and it's going to be really, really, really good. Q. What was your reaction like coming to the first tee there's a 400-square-foot picture of yourself? ZACH JOHNSON: Here? Q. Yeah. Here. You haven't seen it? ZACH JOHNSON: No, I have not. Q. Do you consider yourself the face of this tournament because of those things? ZACH JOHNSON: No. I mean I understand that. I mean I guess I've had success, and as a result, you know, the beauty of what Clair's done -- or not the beauty. The whole board of this tournament and John Deere in particular have really been overly nice to me and congratulatory to me when good things happen, and they feel like I'm one of their own. And as a result, I feel like I'm one of theirs. But you know, I mean Steve Stricker won here last year. You know, and some of the other guys. Kenny Perry's won here. Those guys, their resumes are deeper than mine, and Steve's not that far from here. He grew up a few hours from here, too. If that comes with the territory, that's fine. I love it. There's not anything I do not like about this golf tournament. There's not one bad bite, if you will. I'm getting pretty good with these cliches. Q. With that being said, do you find yourself directly or indirectly recruiting other players? ZACH JOHNSON: Oh, all the time. I mean jokingly sometimes and serious sometimes. Q. (Indiscernible)? ZACH JOHNSON: Without a doubt. Especially if I'm talking to an individual that's going to play in the British Open or has great potential to play in the British Open, yeah, no doubt. I mean until you experience it, you know, you're not going to know. But I mean I've been on it firsthand every year, and it's really, really, really easy. You know, it's nice finishing was it 3:00 on Sunday I think it is, ish? So it gives us a little bit more time to get ready and then get over there and then when you get there Monday morning, you try to stay up as late as possible and get acclimated. Would it be easier to get there Friday before or even the week before, absolutely. But you know, the Scottish Open I've heard is great. You can go on a vacation for a week before, that would be great. But playing a FedEx Tour event in the United States in the class A John Deere I think is great, too. So it's just a matter of preference. For example, Stewart Cink's played here a number of times. He loves it. But being past champion or defending champion, he's taking his family over there and they're going to have a vacation beforehand. And that's great. So there's a number of ways to go about it. But I brag it up all the time. Q. Zach, have you ever had -- do you ever feel like a deciding factor was your presentation or your persuasion that ever got somebody to go to this event? ZACH JOHNSON: I have no idea. You'd have to ask Clair that. I mean Clair is aware -- I've heard stories, you know, like I'm on the range or whatever, you know, hey, David, playing the John Deere this year? David Toms. Or are you going to play New Orleans this year, things like that. And Davis, "yeah, Zach keeps harping me about it" or whatever the case may be. I'm trying. I mean I'm not trying to get in their face with it. But I mean I brag it up. You know, it's not hard to brag it up, especially the families out here that -- the players have families out here, young kids because there's so much -- it's become a family-oriented event, the big dig. There's actually some attractions in the Quad Cities that are fun for the kids, the water park. It's not a hard place for a family to come for a week of golf tournament. The humidity. Q. (Question about the Zach Johnson Foundation)? ZACH JOHNSON: Sure. Yeah. Yesterday in Cedar Rapids we announced the formation of a Zach Johnson Foundation. Basically in previous years we've had Birdies That Care, which is kind of like Birdies For Charity, but Birdies That Care, which my wife and I and then AEGON/Transamerica formulated, like I said, six years ago. And essentially what that is, every birdie I make, every eagle I make we donate so much to a chosen beneficiary every year, a different beneficiary every year, an organization that is more or less grass roots, needs help financially, serves kids or families in need. For example, Boys and Girls Club of Cedar Rapids, a women's shelter, a community free health clinic, and then this year we have Children of Prominence which is a mentoring program for kids who have I guess you'd say parental issues. So we've had this Birdies That Care for years, and in conjunction with Birdies That Care we brought in the foundation, so we're still going to have that charitable arm of the foundation in Birdies That Care, but we're also going to make it bigger and better. We just feel like I don't want to say stale, but it's just time to spice it up and make it bigger and better because we have that opportunity and potential. So with the foundation, we're going to have an event, a Pro Am type event August 1st, 2011. It's going to be on ESPN -- no, (laughs). I'm going to bring in some of my friends, get some local eastern Iowa talent and showcase a pretty cool event that's going to raise money for the foundation. And the foundation's mission and principles and goals are pretty generic, but helping kids, helping families in need. And there's obviously more detail than that, but you get the gist of it. We have minimal -- we have no administrative fees. Every dollar that comes in for this event, for this Zach Johnson Foundation Club goes straight to helping kids and people. So it's pretty unique in that regard, I think, because a lot of times you have overhead and this sort of thing. It's all underwritten by AEGON/Transamerica, the event is. And we'll have sponsors below them as well, but they're the title sponsor. It'll be at Elmcrest Country Club. What other facts do I have of that? There's a lot, fresh in my mind. But yeah, some of my peers are aware of it to an extent. We've got over a year to do it, so we've got time on our side and a lot of awesome resources. I've got an awesome board that we established, friends of the area, my wife and I, my friend, my agent, Brad Buffoni back there, just good people that want to do the right thing in Cedar Rapids. So it's very, very exciting. And we've already had a handful of commitments. We had a luncheon yesterday after the media blitz and we got a number of commitments from corporate businesses in the area, leaders in the area, business leaders in the area. The overall vibe from them after this luncheon was pretty wow, so I mean I was really excited about it. Now I'm like ecstatic about it because I didn't think it would be this I don't want to say easy, but I didn't think it would catch that big of a buzz. So it's going to be pretty cool -- you know, Cedar Rapids and eastern Iowa, they haven't had much of a golf thing like that. So it's going to be unique. We have some pretty cool stuff working. Q. Do you like to reminisce about your Masters championship? ZACH JOHNSON: No. Rarely. I mean I really -- you know, if it comes up, I reminisce about it. A lot of -- actually yesterday I did it because it was pretty cool. We got done with all that stuff as I was mentioning, which was a lot of media and a lot of entertaining and that sort of stuff yesterday, and then we went out and played -- I had to go play my home course, played 8, 10 holes -- I don't know what we played -- with my head pro, my dad and my buddy Brad here. And yeah, we were reminiscing because Larry was there, the guy that started me out in golf. So he had some members down that are friends of ours. He was there with me, and his son was there, Mark, who's a good friend in the Butler cabin and yada, yada, yada. So that was kind of cool hearing their story when I had my own story. So it's cool. Going back to Cedar Rapids it seems to pop up every now and then. Q. Having that on your resume, how much is that just knowing that you're in a situation on the course that you've been there? ZACH JOHNSON: Yeah. That's a really good point. Yeah, I can dwell on those -- or not dwell. I can kind of reflect and go back to some of those feelings. Not so much, you know, what I did, but how I did it. You know, it's more like the execution of shots, the way I was walking, the rhythm of my game that week or that day. Those are the things that I'm -- you know, the things that I can control, you know. I say that a lot, but I'm trying to control things I can control and the things I can't control, just to not even think about them. Q. Can you guess how much of a hangover there was from that Masters and the pressure you might have felt? ZACH JOHNSON: Sure. Well, I didn't think there was much of a hangover initially because I still kind of felt right after the fact that I really wasn't supposed to win. So you know, why is there any pressure for me to perform now? I wasn't supposed to perform there and I did, and I actually managed to play well. I won five or six weeks later and had a great end of the year as well in '07, Presidents Cup, a couple other good finishes. I think I almost won somewhere else. I don't really recall. '08 was probably the lag, and that may be an expectation thing because '07 was so good. And fortunately I did end on a good note and won in San Antonio in the fall and that led into a good '09 year. So it's expectations. I think that's where the lag comes from and just knowing that you can play better than what you are right now. You know, I was just talking to one of my college roommates and teammates who played professional golf yesterday, and just as a competitor it's just so natural to, man, I'm playing good. I'm hitting it good, putting it fine. Let's just get in contention. But it's Thursday. So you get so ahead of yourself rather than the process of hitting shots and staying in the moment. So that's where the lag came from in '08, I think, and the beginning of this year for that matter. Q. Have you ever talked to Todd and compared your experience with his? ZACH JOHNSON: Todd. Hamilton? No, I have not. Wouldn't mind it, though, because we're good friends to begin with, so there's probably some similarities in that regard. Have not talked to him. Q. Is it hard to fathom the success he had early and now finds himself -- ZACH JOHNSON: Hard to fathom. I mean I never would have guessed it because I have played with him a number of times and seen how he plays the game, especially the way he usually putts. But you know, I mean it's -- there probably is a little bit of pressure that comes with a big feat, you know. Some guys deal with it differently and maybe it takes more time to get over it and that sort of thing. But you know, he's still got years left in him and I think a lot of good scores left in him, so just a matter of time. Probably get a little more confidence and you'll see him on the leaderboard, I think. Q. (Indiscernible). If the weather continues, how does this course develop from -- do you have to have every club in the bag? ZACH JOHNSON: Right. I haven't played this week yet. But it matures every year. Any course does, especially one like this, I think. You know, it isn't that old. And it's pure, pure in the sense that, you know, the grass is really, really good and that's what you'd expect. It's a John Deere tournament. Yeah, it plays -- it tests every facet of your game when the conditions are favorable, favorable, dry conditions, minimal rain, you know, a little bit of wind here and there. That's when it tests every club in your bag and every shot. Everything just kind of goes like this, comes in -- when it gets a little bit wet, the fairways become a lot bigger, the greens become a lot bigger and you get to be more aggressive. Even when it's wet, though, yeah, you gotta hit shots. I mean the ball's not going to go as far, so you're hitting longer clubs. You still gotta execute. You know, I think one of the beauties of this course is coming down the stretch, seems to me, 15, 16, 17 and 18 are pretty unique holes. I think there's a lot of character involved, there's a lot of left-to-rights, up-and-downs, but the wind swirls there. If there's a 10- to 15-mile-an-hour wind, which is not uncommon, it can be a headache because you're in the trees, in and out of those little -- I don't know what you call them. The wind just gets trapped, and every now and then you get a gust and it's supposed to be one way and it's totally opposite. So commitment becomes the issue there. Q. When you're bragging the tournament up to other players as you've said, how much of a factor is the course that you're talking to them? ZACH JOHNSON: Oh, it's a big deal. Seems to me when I ask them to play the John Deere and they say yes, you know, we talk about the course briefly because it's -- the course is good. Everybody likes the course that's played here. I mean I don't think there's anybody that doesn't -- I haven't heard a negative comment, which is good. I mean, you know, is it the best course in the world, no. I mean is it the best course even on TOUR, no, but it's very well liked. DOUG MILNE: Okay. Zach, thanks for your time. We always appreciate it. Good luck this week. ZACH JOHNSON: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|